Welcome to Pixalate’s CTV & Mobile App Manual Reviews According to COPPA, a series containing the detailed factors the Trust & Safety Advisory Board educators used to assess an app’s child-directedness.
The educators manually review thousands of mobile apps available in the Google Play & Apple App Stores as well as connected TV (CTV) apps from the Roku Channel Store and Amazon Fire TV App Store using the COPPA Rule factors shown below & make those results available to the public at ratings.pixalate.com.
This post takes a look at a popular mobile app (1 million+ downloads) from the Google Play and Apple App Stores. Our reviewer discusses how the subjective factors set forth in the COPPA Rule apply to the app and factor into the reviewer's determination as to whether the app is child-directed or general audience (i.e., it is not targeting children).
The teacher will indicate the factors they relied upon in their assessment using the 10 factors shown below that reflect the 10 child-directed factors in the COPPA Rule.
The gameplay screenshots for DragonVale: Hatch Dragon Eggs show that the visual and animation content is geared towards children based on the use of animated activities and characteristics. The dragons are colorful and have happy expressions. Players hatch, feed, and care for dragons. The game is about breeding dragons, creating habitats, and collecting resources on a floating island. The language in the app section says, ”Dragon games are a great way for people of all ages and interests to have some fun.”
The incentive of the game is to build dragon habitats to entertain visitors who come to the park.
The game is rated E for Everyone in the Google play store and 4+ in the Apple store. There is an age gate. Players are still able to play the game once the age is confirmed. The app shows evidence that children do view the app. A review posted on Google Play in April of 2022 says, “I’ve been playing this game since I was 12 and I love it!” Another review on Google Play posted May of 2021 says,” I remember playing this when I was a kid in elementary.”
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy does not have a COPPA policy or any information that discusses collection of children's personal data.
Screenshots of DragonVale: Hatch Dragon Eggs
Pixalate’s Trust and Safety Advisory Board was created to bring in individuals with experience using child-directed apps in the classroom to review and assess which apps are child-directed. This manual review process serves to quality check Pixalate’s automated review process. See our full methodology for more information.
Disclaimer
This blog post published by Pixalate is available for informational purposes only and is not considered legal advice. By viewing this blog post, the reader understands and agrees that there is no attorney-client relationship between the reader and the blog publisher. The blog should not be used as a substitute for legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in the applicable jurisdiction(s), and readers are urged to consult their own legal counsel on any specific legal questions concerning any specific situation. The content of this blog post reflects Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes may be useful to the digital media industry. Pixalate's opinions are just that, opinions, which means that they are neither facts nor guarantees; and this blog post is not intended to impugn the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but instead, to report findings pertaining to mobile and Connected TV (CTV) apps.
